Which cat foods are really stinky?

[QueenOfThorns]

My poor fluffy boy has just been diagnosed with a serious heart condition and was allowed home today after a few days in hospital. We will have to give him medication twice daily for the rest of his life. Even the hospital staff had problems giving him the pills, he's really good at popping them back out again, so they advised crushing them and giving them from a syringe in water. We tried that this evening, it was an arduous process, but we got the liquid in. Only to have it reappear a few minutes later as he heaved his guts up on to the floor

Next attempt was crushed and mixed in with his dinner. He sniffed it suspiciously and marched off. We tried to coax him into eating a few more times, but he didn't do more than lick around the edges. Then DH had a brainwave - we had a couple of tins left of Hills J/D prescription diet, the whiffiest cat food I have ever encountered - I mixed a generous spoonful into the bowl of food and he attacked it vigorously, eating about 2/3!

So, it looks as though we have found a means of getting the drugs in, but that stuff is pretty pricey and has to be ordered through the vet. Does anyone know of any ordinary cat foods that are particularly pungent and might do the trick instead?

Or perhaps there are any suggestions of other ways to get these drugs in?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I have divulged the following information before and I am not proud that I know these tricks, but as a vet I had to find ways to medicate my own cat.
Tablets can be squeezed into
Cubes of cheddar
Prawns
Bits of sausage
Cheesy wotsits ( I said I wasn't proud)
Tablets can be coated in
Brussels pâté
Primula cream cheese spread
Philidelphia

If you rota these seven tricks regularly you should get away with it ??.

[QueenOfThorns]

Cheesy wotsits

Thanks Lonecat

[Catmint]

My cat is fairly obsessive about vitamin paste, and I think would take tablets coated in it.

You can get it online from zooplus.

[PinkSparklyJumboStocking]

A bit different I know but my mother used to give her dog pills in garlic sausage!

[RubbishMantra]

My cats eat Animonda Carny. It stinks the kitchen out for at least an hour after. Smelly indeed.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Garlic can be poisonous so probably better a avoided.

[elvisola]

I give my cat his pills squished into a ball made of a hamburger cheese slice, he swallows it so fast there's no time to realise there is a tablet involved.

[JanetWeb2812]

Pill popping: it's all in the technique.

Head back, squeeze the jaw and then poke the pill down firmly. Close the mouth and massage the throat.

Easy, you just need to practise.

[PinkSparklyJumboStocking]

Oops, sorry, I didn't realise garlic is poisonous

Is that just for cats?

[MyCatLovesMeSometimes]

I give our cat her kidney pills along with a dreamie treat - you do have to whip your fingers away pretty fast otherwise she tries to chew on them too.

Otherwise I've found Feline Fayre pilchard sachets which I found in Asda are pretty stinky as Dcat is now very fussy and refuses to eat the expensive kidney food.

[cozietoesie]

Dogs as well, Pink.

[Sparklingbrook]

I have one of these and it's very good, and quick.From the vet.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy would defeat it. He could squirm at international level - even his vet has given up on trying to get a pill down him.

[Sparklingbrook]

we do the two person wrap cat and her limbs in a towel like a sausage with head sticking out method, using the dispenser. It's not pretty.

[PinkSparklyJumboStocking]

Thanks Cozie. Mother's dog must have had a cast iron constitution as she lived to a good age and was never ill!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Janet the majority of cats I can do and do on a daily basis. When you own a squirming ball of evilness you have to use other tricks.

[shaska]

I always thought I was the world champ at giving cats pills, until we had a cat like Cozie's Seniorboy and I was repeatedly defeated. She was a full cat-burrito two person ten minutes everyone cries at the end job.

That said, if you don't have a top notch squirmer, the forced method can be very easy and quick once you get the hang of it - I think it's still my preference, as they're such bastards about being tricked. Many's the time I've joyously watched the key lump of cheese/chicken/pate slip down, only to have the wily beast do some sort of back of throat magic and delicately spit a cleaned and slimy pill back onto the floor.

[cozietoesie]

Tricks can work but not for an extended period with us - an 'extended period' being more than once for Seniorboy.

Last time he had to have bloods taken, he didn't use his claws of course. He simply ended up up the back of She Who Must Be Obeyed the Chief Vet Nurse's overall. It's a good job he's a favourite of hers. (The vet doesn't take blood from him any more.)

I really feel for you, Queen. We're now reduced to only giving him stuff which can be injected (his ABs) or added to his food so I have to go to extreme lengths of tastiness provision. The only thing I can suggest is to vary flavours all the time and make sure that when you give him something in his food, that the food is always fresh and moist.

Oh - and don't buy large amounts of a particular food. I've got umpty packets of stuff that I bought in great excitement because Seniorboy appeared to enjoy it - only to have him turn his nose up at it a few days later.

[QueenOfThorns]

Thanks all. Stinky food worked this morning, but not this evening. Tried tuna, still no luck

Phoned the emergency vet and she happened to have treated him herself when he was in the hospital, so was very sympathetic. She seemed impressed that he'd regurgitated the pills mixed in water! She advised crushing the pills and putting them in a small amount of butter and rubbing it on his nose and mouth. Bingo!

It doesn't seem like a sustainable solution, but we'll soldier on!

[Grandmaw]

My cat is on a pill a day so I had to find an easy way to give them to him. After trying various ways I found a cat treat called Tasty Sticks by Webbox. They are quite pliable - I cut off a small piece, make a slit in it and insert the pill moulding the treat around it. 98% of the time this works first time although I have occasionally found a clean pill which has magically been regurgitated on the kitchen floor!